Our hotel was SO lovely and we had found such a great deal. We kept our costs low by still cooking in the van and basically got down to planning a wedding!

We had a fabulous photographer lined up and an amazing videographer too…(both the very top of their game in Argentina!) we also had a great idea but it just wasn’t coming together!

We really wanted to try to arrange a midnight tango wedding. Alex had been in and out of touch with so many people and we just couldn’t get anything nailed down! Typically we had arrived during the ‘Olympics’ of the Tango world in the heart of tango land and needed someone to give up their precious time and skills to help us out! The chances were looking slim!!!

We worked hard all day, all night and the next morning we struck gold! Daniella and Rommel a tango couple who were actually competing in the Tango Olympics (its not called that but will be referred to as that because it is THAT serious) agreed to help us!!!

We arranged to meet them at the amazing Tango house they were staying at and said we would go from there. I couldn’t believe it when they agreed to help we literally called Emiliano (photographer) and Alejandro (videographer) and said “we’re on for tomorrow” and that was it, we were (not at all) wedding ready! We asked Daniella and Rommel what time they wanted us there and they replied with around 10 would be perfect…I looked at the time and it was 9, explained we might not make it in time and they laughed and said no silly, 10PM. We will choose some outfits and then go to the Milonga which starts at midnight!!!

We are normally in bed by 9 or 10 so it was going to be a big night for us!

We spent the day pulling together the last few things, we spoke with florists, wedding accessory suppliers, went wandering the streets looking for things to wear for our Tango wedding and to get inspired.
The whole place ooooooooozes tango. You can feel it in the air, sense it in the streets and see it in peoples eyes. It is an AMAZING place! San Telmo is not only where tango was born, it is where Buenos Aires was born!
Cafes, tango parlours and antique shops line the cobblestone streets, which close down to cars completely once a week and are filled with artists and dancers!

9pm soon rolled around and instead of climbing into bed we got dressed and jumped in a cab to Daniella and rommels place which. was. AMAZING.
High decorated cielings in a beautiful colonial building with a cage elevator running up the centre of the stairs which ran around and around and around seemingly forever! I was in love with the place the instant we stepped in the door!

The parquette flooring looked suitably danced on and we went on in to meet this amazing couple who had offered to help us in one of the busiest times of their lives!

They both LOOKED like tango dancers, Rommel tall and straight but with liquid movement spoke the way I imagined he danced; Daniella beautiful with dancers hair and a poise that I would DIE for and of course they totally rocked as people!

We got straight to business and hit the wardrobe! Most of Daniellas things fit me and of course everything was beautiful, dresses with low backs and asymetric hems made to flow out behind you as you glide along the dance floor, sparkles to catch the lights and teeny eeny weeny spaghetti straps to show off your perfect embrace…thats all when Daniella is wearing them of course!!

We chose a dress and then it was Alex’s turn! Rommel was a man of style and taste and so into tango and the ‘rules’ that he had a tie and cravat to match every one of Daniellas dresses! His suit amazingly fit Alex really well to say how tall he was…or seemed due to his amazingly straight stance. Once we had outfits, shoes and accessories sorted we prepared for the milonga.

Milonga is actually the name of a dance or the place where the milonga is danced…in this case the place of the dance! As Daniella and Rommel got ready they explained a few things about tango and it is not just a dance, it is a lifestyle!

Rommel shaved, splashed on aftershave, brushed his teeth twice and checked all of his clothing matched his partners. Daniella combed out her long hair, put on some fabulous make up and checked her clothes complimented Rommels. Rommel explained that the man has to do everything he can to show his partner he respects her; by being clean, smelling nice, complimenting her outfit and caring about his appearance he is showing her how much he cares.

We hopped a cab and arrived at the bustling venue. We squeezed through the closely packed tables and chairs and were served drinks and empenadas to our table. The room was an old hall with a surprisingly small dance floor with a small bar, the smell of sweat, coffee and wooden floors permeated everything and I could feel the magic of the dance in the air. It felt like I had been invited into a private club, accepted into the folds of something I had no experience of, almost like a fly on the wall. It felt sultry, sexy, and naughty! It was midnight and everyone was gathering together in this old room to dance! It was like they had silently slipped away from their normal lives and turned into creatures of the night!

The scraping of shoes of the parquette floor, the 40’s music at a perfectly respectable level, the whispers from the dancers and the glances across the floor. A man should never ask a woman directly to dance, he should never approach her. It is a simple look from across the room, an acknowledgement and meeting on the dance floor. The etiquette was incredible! A woman should never dance with a man she has not seen dance, he has to prove his worth before anyone else will dance with him. The sparkles, the swirling skirts and fishnets, the ‘DONT’ of the feather in the hair, it was like a drug!

Mesmerised I watched the couples glide effortlessly around the floor, totally connected to one another and silently communicating their next steps as though they were totally alone in the room. There are no real ‘steps’ in tango, the man leads and the woman just has to know and follow. He has to let her know with his body what he is going to do next. He has to believe in what he is going to do and project it, she has to read the message and never doubt it, she has to trust and go with it…its incredible and the energy indescribable!

We watched with our mouths gaping desperate to soak up some of the skill in the room. We watched Rommel and Daniella dance and as I suspected they danced beautifully together and totally became one person! I was instantly in love with tango!

We watched for hours from the safety of our seats and got back to our hotel around 4am absolutely high on the drug that is tango in San Telmo! It was incredible!

All we needed now was to learn how to do all of that in time for the wedding…tomorrow!